What are the keywords for local low-carbon development? Experts recruit local low-carbon and inclusive transformation
"We have proposed a concept that is 'energy poverty problem', which will alleviate energy poverty by about 50% in the region with the lowest income. Simply put, after the implementation of rooftop photovoltaics, including CCER, and even inter-regional economic compensation, there will be 50% of the population will greatly alleviate the cost of energy acquisition, which will also greatly alleviate the economic costs suffered by low-income and vulnerable groups during the energy transformation process in rural areas." said Zhang Wei, deputy director of the Simulation Technology Center of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
"How to combine low-carbon development with common prosperity is a very important issue." said Wu Xu, associate researcher at the Happy City Research Institute and the Common Prosperity Research Institute of Zhejiang University City College.
At the "2024 Local Low-Carbon Transformation Seminar" recently hosted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) and co-organized by the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, experts and scholars from government departments, international organizations, industry associations and financial institutions exchanged views on issues such as local low-carbon inclusive transformation, green supply chains and financial mechanisms to support transformation, and explored practical policy recommendations and solutions.
Rivers are full of water and rivers: low-carbon transformation in key areas is the key
2020 - 2030 is a critical decade for China to achieve its "carbon peak" goal, and the progress of low-carbon transformation in key regions is particularly critical. NRDC, WRI and local partners jointly launched the "Local Low-Carbon Inclusive Transformation" project in 2023 to support energy transformation and social development in key energy production and consumption areas such as Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta. Economic development, by promoting social and economic development, energy transformation and inter-provincial cooperation, lays a solid foundation for these key areas to accelerate their move towards carbon neutrality.
"Summarizing experience, discovering problems, and exploring pragmatic solutions from local practice can provide multi-faceted reference for the continuous improvement of policy mechanisms at the national level." Fang Li, chief representative of the WRI Beijing Representative Office, said that at present, the "14th Five-Year Plan" is coming to an end, and preliminary studies for the "15th Five-Year Plan" have been launched one after another. At this critical time point, we will join hands with partners from all walks of life to focus on "local low-carbon and inclusive transformation", which will help Deepen cooperation with various localities based on past practices, provide multi-dimensional support for accelerating local transformation, and contribute more local samples to the country's realization of the "double carbon" goal.
Xia Zuyi, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, said that local governments are the main battlefields for low-carbon transformation, and each region should actively explore differentiated low-carbon development paths based on its own resource endowments, development stages and advantageous characteristics. "In the process of promoting inclusive and low-carbon transformation and development, we must fully consider the interests of all parties, practice from multiple angles, and make full use of diversified means such as scientific and technological innovation, policy guidance, market mechanisms, and international cooperation to form a synergy. At the same time, we encourage all regions to dare to try and innovate boldly to provide replicable and replicable Chinese solutions for global low-carbon development."
"In the process of actively responding to climate change and promoting the transformation and development of the whole society, we are facing many inclusive challenges, including how to successfully decouple economic development from fossil energy, how to obtain financial support for the transformation of high-carbon industries, and how the well-being of relevant vulnerable groups is guaranteed during the transformation process." Zhang Jieqing, chief representative of the NRDC Beijing Representative Office, said that policy design to promote green and low-carbon transformation needs to combine bottom-up and top-down, giving full play to the dual roles of top-level design of national strategies and local practice and innovative development. The goals and tasks proposed by local governments, implementation paths and measures are related to the process and pace of the country's promotion of green and low-carbon transformation.
"Infinite scenery is in the local area": Need to establish a zero-carbon industrial system
Fang Li pointed out that all regions have a consensus on the "relationship between transformation and development":"Everyone believes that the proposal of the 'double carbon' goal has brought endogenous power to accelerating the construction of new energy systems, creating green high-end industries, and promoting new quality productivity. However, transformation is not an overnight task. It requires the thinking of systemic change to guide it, a practical spirit of courage and innovation, and a moderate fault tolerance mechanism."
In addition, Fang Li said that another important aspect of transformation is to mobilize the enthusiasm of upstream and downstream of the industrial chain for coordinated emission reduction and create a green supply chain, which is an important starting point for promoting the transformation and upgrading of local industries.
Pan Jiahua, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and deputy director of the National Expert Committee on Climate Change, said that the realistic transition away from fossil fuels requires the establishment of a complete zero-carbon industrial system from production to consumption terminals.
On September 20, 2021, the "Opinions on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing New Development Concepts and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutralization" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council proposed that the proportion of non-fossil energy in my country should reach 80%,"in other words, the proportion of fossil fuels will shift from 83.7% in 2023 to less than 20% in 2060, which is equivalent to moving from fossil fuels to zero-carbon energy track." Pan Jiahua said.
"The zero-carbon energy industrial system cannot be concentrated in large cities, but is relatively scattered. In particular, the establishment and installation of zero-carbon energy can only be in rural areas and localities. Therefore, the benefits and increased employment are also in localities. This is the opportunity for local transformation and development." Pan Jiahua said that the future "infinite scenery lies in the place." He pointed out that rural areas should be redefined as production bases for agricultural and sideline products and production bases for zero-carbon energy. Farmers increase their economic benefits by installing wind and solar power generation equipment, which is an improvement in people's livelihood and well-being, and is the driving mechanism for local low-carbon transformation.
Dai Yande, former director of the Energy Research Institute of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, emphasized that the proposal of the "double carbon" goal has brought endogenous impetus to accelerating the construction of a new energy system and creating a new high-end industry that is greener, and will surely spawn new economic growth. point. The clean replacement of the energy system and the upgrading of the industrial sector require a lot of investment, which will bring opportunities for sustained medium-to-high growth to the Chinese economy.
Local exploration: Combining low-carbon transformation with common prosperity
"To achieve synergy among multiple sustainable development goals, inclusive transformation is particularly critical." Lu Lu, a researcher at the Sustainable Transformation Center of the WRI Beijing Representative Office, believes that many initiatives and policy documents focusing on sustainable development, such as development concepts such as common prosperity and rural revitalization, coincide with the principles and core of inclusive and fair transformation.
The aluminum industry was once a traditional advantageous industry in Henan Province. Li Wenjie, associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Sciences of Zhengzhou University, introduced the green transformation of the aluminum industry in Henan Province: "Factors such as high power costs and a large proportion of coal and electricity have led to the serious relocation of electrolytic aluminum in Henan Province, and the province's supply of raw materials is insufficient. In the future, it is necessary to vigorously develop recycled aluminum to fill the relocated primary aluminum supply. The use of recycled aluminum can reduce carbon emissions in primary aluminum production by approximately 95%, reduce carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of downstream products, promote technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and promote the entire industrial chain to develop in a more sustainable direction."
"Common prosperity is an important policy orientation to ensure the fairness and inclusiveness of low-carbon transformation in the process of Chinese-style modernization." Wu Xu, an associate researcher at the Institute of Happy Cities and the Institute of Common Prosperity at City College of Zhejiang University, believes that Zhejiang Province has implemented the per-acre efficiency evaluation reform in the early practice of common prosperity to improve enterprises 'utilization of various resources. Through the Shanhai Cooperation Project, it has built a collaboration platform for the province's coastal developed cities to connect resources and complement each other's advantages, and promotes the equalization of basic public services through measures such as handheld office and medical communities."These initiatives all include practices to improve low-carbon levels and achieve low-carbon values. If the impact of low-carbon experiences and practices in these initiatives can be further expanded, it will be possible to achieve inclusive and equitable growth while improving the level of low-carbon development."
As a major coal province, what practices does Shanxi Province have in the process of coal transformation? Li Ying, director of the Exchange Center of Shanxi Kecheng Energy and Environment Innovation Research Institute, said that both the Shanxi Province government and coal companies have active exploration cases to ensure the placement of redundant personnel in the coal industry. The Shanxi Province government has made useful attempts in many aspects, such as introducing relevant policies and clarifying relevant funding sources. At the enterprise level, coal companies have also provided new employment channels for coal workers through measures such as establishing innovation and entrepreneurship platforms, establishing human resources companies, and developing non-coal industries. At the same time, financial institutions are also providing corresponding guarantees, such as innovation in financial instruments to support transformation, Shanxi's low-carbon and inclusive rural development, and assistance in improving net-zero carbon emission skills.
"As China's industrial focus shifts from light industry to heavy industry to integrated manufacturing and then to service industry, the correlation between Shanxi and the national industrial cycle's 'circle of friends' has weakened, which also shows that Shanxi's industrial landscape of 'one coal dominates the big'. Not changed." Wang Ran, executive deputy director, associate professor and doctoral supervisor of the Global Value Chain Laboratory of the University of International Business and Economics, said that from a policy perspective, Shanxi's concept is "chain" development, and the government has introduced incentives based on ten key industrial chains. Policies promote the formation of a complete business format from upstream, midstream to downstream, and help the integrated development of the industrial chain. Nowadays, the "chain" development of key industries has begun to take shape. High-end manufacturing, hydrogen energy, new energy vehicles, third-generation semiconductors and other industries will become several important windows for the future development of Shanxi's new industries.
Wang Jia, director of the NRDC Energy Transformation Project, said that as a traditional resource-dependent industry, Shanxi's coking industry is not only reducing production capacity and improving quality, but also integrating upstream and downstream resources of the industrial chain, vigorously promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, and gradually extending the "coal-coke-chemical-hydrogen (gas)" industrial chain around the efficient use of coke oven gas, transforming into a non-coal economy. Abundant by-product hydrogen resources have cultivated the downstream market for hydrogen energy, and the carbon reduction effects of hydrogen smelting and heavy hydrogen trucks have begun to show. However, it should be noted that grey hydrogen is only a transitional industry in transformation. Shanxi needs to seize the critical window period to accelerate the transition from grey hydrogen to green hydrogen.
Wu Caixia, Director of the Industry and Research Department of the Wind Energy Professional Committee of the China Renewable Energy Society, introduced the case of "Wind Control Action" to promote rural revitalization. She pointed out that in the early stage, villages had benefited from developing wind power according to local conditions, achieving in-depth integrated development with local tourism and other industries. At the same time, villagers also gained sustainable economic benefits from land or capital dividends. She emphasized that under the current national policy framework of thousands of villages, adapting measures to local conditions, steadily advancing, village-enterprise cooperation, and integrated development are important principles to ensure inclusiveness in sustainable rural transformation.
